LEAH DICKERMAN WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY MATTHEW AFFRON YVE-ALAIN BOIS MASHA CHLENOVA ESTER COEN CHRISTOPH COX HUBERT DAMISCH RACHAEL Z. DELUE HAL FOSTER MARK FRANKO MATTHEW GALE PETER GALISON MARIA GOUGH JODI HAUPTMAN GORDON HUGHES DAVID JOSELIT ANTON KAES DAVID LANG SUSAN LAXTON GLENN D. LOWRY PHILIPPE-ALAIN MICHAUD JAROSLAW SUCHAN LANKA TATTERSALL MICHAEL R. TAYLOR 2 The Museum of Modern Art, New York 40 46 50 64 72 74 CONTENTS Pablo PICASSO: COLORS AND GAMES: VASILY KANDINSKY, MR. KUPKA AMONG ON THE MOVE ABSTRACTION THE CADAQUÉS MUSIC AND ABSTRACTION, WITHOUT WORDS VERTICALS HUBERT DAMIsCH CHEZ DELAUNAY EXPERIMENT 1909 TO 1912 LeAH DICKERMAN LANKA TatTersall GOrDON HUGHES YVe-ALAIN BOIs DAVID LANG 7 82 94 100 110 116 124 FOREWORD CONTRASTS OF COLORS, LÉOPOLD SURVAGE’S WITH COLOR FRANCIS PICABIA: FERNAND LÉGER: GIACOMO BALLA: GLeNN D. LOWrY CONTRASTS OF WORDS PAPER CINEMA rACHaEL Z. DeLUe ABSTRACTION METALLIC SENSATIONS THE MOST LUMINOUS MATTHeW AFFrON JODI HAUPTMAN AND SINCERITY MATTHeW AFFrON ABSTRACTION MICHAeL r. TAYLOr ESTER COeN 9 134 144 154 172 182 188 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PAROLE IN LIBERTÀ MUSIC, NOISE, VORTICISM: PLANETARY PAINTING STRIPPED BARE DECORATION AND AGAINST JODI HAUPTMAN AND ABSTRACTION ABSTRACTION DAVID JOSELIT ABSTRACTION THE CIRCLE CHrIsTOPH COX MATTHeW GALe IN BLOOMSBURY rACHAeL Z. DeLUe MATTHeW AFFrON 12 200 206 226 238 254 262 370 INVENTING ABSTRACTION EARLY RUSSIAN 0.10 PIET MONDRIAN: 3 DE STIJL MODELS THE SPATIAL OBJECT THE LANGUAGE OF INDEX LeAH DICKERMAN ABSTRACTION, MAsHA CHLeNOVA TOWARD THE YVe-ALAIN BOIs MArIA GOUGH REVOLUTION AS SUCH ABOLITION OF FORM MArIA GOUGH MAsHA CHLeNOVA YVe-ALAIN BOIs 274 292 296 300 310 324 373 SENSE AND NON-SENSE DANCED ABSTRACTION: DANCED ABSTRACTION: THE COLOR GRID THE ABSTRACT ENVIRONMENT EARLY ABSTRACTION LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION HAL FOsTER RUDOLF VON LABAN MARY WIGMAN LANKA TatTersall MArIA GOUGH IN POLAND MArK FrANKO MArK FrANKO JArOsLAW sUCHAN 332 338 346 350 358 364 376 WHITE SHADOWS: RHYTHMUS 21 THE ABSOLUTE FILM CONCRETE ABSTRACTION ABSTRACTION IN 1936 ABSTRACTION IN 1936 TRUSTEES OF PHOTOGRAMS AROUND 1922 AND THE GENESIS ANTON KAES PeTER GALIsON BARR’S DIAGRAMS CUBISM AND ABSTRACT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART sUsAN LAXTON OF FILMIC GLeNN D. LOWrY ART AT THE MUSEUM ABSTRACTION OF MODERN ART PHILIPPe-ALAIN MICHAUD LeAH DICKERMAN FOREWORD ABSTRACTION may be modernism’s greatest innovation. It is now development of abstraction in seventy-five years,Inventing Abstraction so central to our conception of artistic practice that the time before offers a chance to reflect on the legacy ofM oMA’s own practice. the idea of an abstract artwork made sense has become hard We are grateful to Leah Dickerman, Curator in the Department to imagine, yet when those works first appeared — quite suddenly, of Painting and Sculpture, for the conception and organization of HANJIN SHIPPING is delighted to sponsor Inventing Abstraction, around 100 years ago — they took many observers by surprise. this exhibition and book. Masha Chlenova, Curatorial Assistant in 1910-1925 and to be part of sharing this important exhibition with Beginning in late 1911 and across the course of the next year, the Department of Painting and Sculpture, was her essential partner. the global audience of The Museum of Modern Art. Hanjin has a series of artists including Vasily Kandinsky, Fernard Léger, We are especially grateful to the generous supporters of this been a dedicated supporter of the Museum, sponsoring a variety Robert Delaunay, František Kupka, and Francis Picabia exhibited project and of the Museum’s programming in general. Inventing of exhibitions and programs including Monet’s Water Lilies in 2009, works that marked the beginning of something radically new: Abstraction is made possible by Hanjin Shipping. Major support Picasso: Guitars 1912–1914 in 2011, and Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of they dispensed with recognizable subject matter. The implications is provided by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Language in 2012. of these opening moves were registered with astonishing rapidity. the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund, the Blavatnik Family Foundation, Within five years, abstraction’s practitioners included Hans Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis, and Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Hanjin Shipping is Korea’s largest shipping company, and Arp, Vanessa Bell, Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Arthur Dove, Natalia and the exhibition is also supported by an indemnity from the ranks among the top ten major shipping carriers in the world. Goncharova, Marsden Hartley, Paul Klee, Mikhail Larionov, Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The seminars A proud supporter of the arts, it makes a priority of partnering Kazimir Malevich, Franz Marc, Piet Mondrian, Hans Richter, bringing together scholars in a variety of disciplines in the exhi- with museums worldwide. Our Chairwoman, Eunyoung Choi, Wyndham Lewis, and more. bition’s planning stages were made possible by MoMA’s Wallis is passionate about this goal and believes strongly that as Inventing Abstraction explores abstraction as both a historical Annenberg Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art through the the scope of our business extends to every corner of the world, idea and an emergent artistic practice. The story of its sudden Annenberg Foundation. art helps us to communicate with the global community. We are flourishing may have something to tell us about the nature of On behalf of the Trustees and staff of the Museum, I wish delighted to work with MoMA once again as a sponsor of this innovation itself: abstraction was not the inspiration of a solitary to acknowledge the lenders — private individuals and museum extraordinary exhibition about abstraction, its birth and growth, genius but the product of network thinking — of ideas moving colleagues — who have entrusted us with the care of their works. and its international role in modern art. through a nexus of artists and intellectuals working in different Their generosity has in many cases allowed us to exhibit works that media and in far-flung places. Its pioneers were more closely linked have not yet been seen in this country, and in others to provide a than is generally understood. From the start, abstraction was an new perspective on familiar ones. They have our profound gratitude. international phenomenon, as artists and images moved quickly across borders, sharing in a new exhibition and media culture. Inventing Abstraction accordingly takes a transnational perspective: — GLENN D. LOWRY surveying key episodes in abstraction’s early history, it includes work Director, The Museum of Modern Art made across Eastern and Western Europe and the United States. The coming of these first abstract pictures was matched by extraordinary developments in other spheres. Sound poetry, non- narrative dance, and atonal music developed in parallel with pictures that no longer pictured; each jettisoned the weight of convention. These new forms of practice suggest how abstraction at its incep- tion may be seen as a cross-media imperative. Inventing Abstraction explores the productive relationships among artists and compos- ers, dancers and poets, in establishing a new modern language for the arts. It brings together a wide range of art forms — paintings, drawings, printed matter, books, sculpture, film, photography, sound recordings, music and dance footage — to draw a rich portrait of this watershed moment in which art was wholly reinvented. Abstraction is a vital subject in The Museum of Modern Art’s own history. An important touchstone for this project has been Cubism and Abstract Art, a landmark exhibition organized by the Museum’s founding director, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., in 1936. The show surveyed the early history of abstraction at a moment when mod- ernist artists were under real threat from totalitarianism in Europe. It had a lasting impact on MoMA’s collection: many works were acquired directly from it, and others within the historical frame- work it shaped. As the Museum’s first major exhibition on the early 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INVENTING ABSTRACTION traces the sweep of a radical new idea as Rumelin, Musées d’art et d’histoire, Geneva; Benno Tempel, Hans it moved among artists and intellectuals, sweeping across nations Janssen, Christian Rumelin, Doede Hardeman, and Frans Peterse, and across media. The development of abstract art is a prime Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague; John Neumeier and example of the power of network thinking. This catalogue and the Hans-Michael Schäfer, Stiftung John Neumeier, Hamburg; Susan L. exhibition it accompanies were also made possible by the efforts Talbott and Eric Zafran, Curator, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of a far-flung network of individuals, and in working on them both, of Art, Hartford; Gary Tinterow, Gwendolyn H. Goff, and Emily I was moved by and very grateful for the extraordinary gestures Neff, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Patrick Primavesi, of generosity that make such a collaborative undertaking possible. Gabriele Ruiz, and Steffen Hoffmann, Tanzarchiv Leipzig e.V.; The makers of those gestures include the many dedicated teams Rainer Hüben, Fondazione Marguerite Arp, Locarno; Jaroslaw of people at The Museum of Modern Art who use their great skills Suchan, Malgorzata Ludwisiak, and Jaroslaw Lubiak, Muzeum to realize ambitious exhibition projects such as this one. There were Sztuki w Łodzi, Lodz; Nicholas Serota, Matthew Gale, Nicholas also the eighty-four lenders who parted with their great treasures Cullinan, and Adrian Glew, Tate, London; Miguel Ángel Recio to allow us to show them in our galleries; the twenty-three authors Crespo, Paloma Alarcó, and Guillermo Solana, Museo Thyssen- who contributed their ideas and expertise to this volume; and Bornemisza, Madrid; Olga Viso and Darsie Alexander, Walker Art scores of others who helped make this project happen in other Center, Minneapolis; Lora Urbanelli and Gail Stavitsky, Montclair ways: generously giving us their advice and support in shaping the Art Museum, N.J.; Maja Oeri and Charlotte Gutzwiller, Emanuel checklist, securing loans, figuring out the right recordings, provid- Hoffmann-Stiftung, Schaulager, Münchenstein, Switzerland; ing financial support.